We are parents and educators with a passion to improve reading and writing among students by providing books to read for free to students and assisting them with writing book reviews. Students can "earn to learn" too since they can earn gift cards for their book reviews.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Hope in Patience by Beth Fehlbaum

Ashley Asher is fifteen years old, and is sent to live with her father and his family, after being sexually abused by her stepfather for four years. She seems to be making progress, with the help of her therapist and her new family, but she still struggles with trying to forget the abuse she'd endured for years. With her guard built up, she starts school in her new hometown of Patience, Texas, where she meets all of these new people including her soon to best friend, ZZ. She joins the cross country team with her new friends, when a special boy catches her eye. Josh is cute, funny, and attractive, but Ashley has no confidence in things working out with him. Will she soon learn that forgetting about her past isn't an option anymore? Will Ashley see that there is still hope for her in Patience? Or will she end up losing herself, the progress she's made, and Josh to something that never should've happened to begin with?

I thought that 'Hope in Patience' was a great story about a girls struggle with sexual abuse. Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. I was so anxious to see whether Ashley would make it through all the craziness of what was happening in her life, or if she would end up giving up. I loved that Beth Fehlbaum was also a victim of abuse, because she could write from what she knew, and you as a reader, would know that what Ashley was feeling in the book were what real people who've went through this actually felt. I loved the way it let you see into her mind; the whole story was really tremendous. I would definitely recommend this book to any young adult reader, or victim of sexual abuse.

This book has some material that may be considered inappropriate for young readers.

About Us

LitPick.com and Flamingnet.com are worldwide networks of preteen and teen book reviewers. The websites offer book reviews written by young adults on young adult books.
Flamingnet was started in 2002 by Seth Cassel (Harvard '13) and his father, Gary Cassel. They continue to manage Flamingnet, along with the help of a dedicated staff and many adult volunteers located all over the world. In 2011, Seth Cassel and a team of fellow students at Harvard College developed LitPick.com. LitPick improves upon the Flamingnet concept and functionality, especially as a social network for young adult readers and as an opportunity for students to review the ever-expanding number of new eBooks that are becoming available to young adult readers.
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